Update: Straight Outta Oakland, BAM 27 City Tour, invited to perform at Oakland's Flight Deck Theatre

photo collage Adam Turner

Straight Outta Oakland, the Black Arts Movement 27 City Tour, has been invited to perform at Oakland's Flight Deck Theatre on Broadway, downtown Oakland. Executive Director Anna Shneiderman emailed BAM Tour producer Marvin X: Hi Marvin. I'd love to see this concert happen at The Flight Deck.  Please let me know if you think that makes sense and if so, what time of year you're thinking about.

Bests,

Anna

Anna Shneiderman
Executive Director

Ragged Wing Ensemble & The Flight Deck
510-858-7383

www.raggedwing.org

www.theflightdeck.org

CUBA first stop on 27 City Tour?

Members of the Black Arts Movement Poets Choir and Arkestra  informed producer Marvin X they would like to initiate the tour in Cuba rather than end in Cuba as Marvin had planned. BAM artists from coast to coast have suggested Cuba first, so we shall see. Since the BAM icons are elders, their schedules and health will determine how many will be able to do the 27 city tour. Poet Sonia Sanchez, 80 years old, told the producer, "Marvin, the very idea of a 27 city tour makes me tired."

 BAM poet Sonia Sanchez

Straight Outta Oakland, BAM 27 City Tour is estimated to cost about 3 million dollars @ $100,000.00 per city, plus the Cuba Concert. We are seeking donations to make this tour a reality. What is the purpose? Ancestor Amiri Baraka would say, "It's about beauty and truth! It's about advancing the cultural revolution. It's about a United Front of all progressive people." For information or booking, email jmarvinx@yahoo.com. 510-200-4164.

Amiri Baraka, BAM Chief architect (RIP)

Straight Outta Oakland

The Black Arts Movement 27 City Tour

Amiri Baraka and Maya Angelou doing the BAM BAM (RIP)

 

Graphic design by Adam Turner

Now that the Oakland City Council has approved the Black Arts Movement Business District, the time has come for the Black Arts Movement Poets Choir and Arkestra to hit the road and complete the 27 City Tour envisioned by ancestor Amiri Baraka.  AB told BAM artists to tour the 27 cities with large populations of North American Africans and spread radical cultural consciousness. He said we should at least establish a fifty seat theatre in each city based on the BAM concept of the artistic freedom fighter. Long live the spirit of AB!

 
Amiri Baraka (RIP) and Marvin X enjoyed a 47 year friendship as movers and shakers of the Black Arts Movement

The Black Arts Movement was/is the most radical artistic and literary movement in American history, sister of the Black Power Movement. Our mission is to spread radical cultural consciousness throughout the land. We thank the citizens of Oakland for establishing the first Black Arts Movement Business District in America.

 

 BAM co-founder Marvin X and Lynette McElhaney, President of the

 Oakland City Council

photo Adam Turner

 Marvin X speaking at Oakland City Hall's Black History Celebration, Feb. 24, 2016

We especially thank Oakland City Council President, Lynette McElhaney, for pushing through legislation establishing the Black Arts Movement Business District. Also, thanks to Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf and Laney College President Elnora T. Webb for celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the Black Arts Movement at Laney College. Mayor Schaaf said she will use her power as Mayor to support the BAM 27 City Tour by contacting mayors in other American cities. We urge her to do so ASAP.

 

Left to Right: Mrs. Gay Plair Cobb, Marvin X, Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf, Laney College President, Dr. Elnora T. Webb, Dr. Nathan Hare, Paul Cobb, Publisher of the Oakland Post News Group

We would like the BAM 27 City Tour to end in Cuba with a grand concert featuring the BAM Poets Choir and Arkestra, Francisco Mora's Afro Horn, Sun Ra Arkestra and David Murray. We need sponsors, promoters, booking agents to make this happen. If you or your city has a venue for the 27 City US tour, please contact Marvin X: 510-200-4164 ASAP.

Sincerely,

Marvin X,
Producer
BAM 27 City Tour
jmarvinx@yahoo.com

Icons of the Black Arts Movement
invited to join the 
BAM 27 City Tour

Askia Toure

Sonia Sanchez

Marvin X and Danny Glover

 

Nikki Giovanni

l

The Last Poets 

Felipe Luciano, Last Poets

Haki Madhubuti

Mrs. Amina Baraka

Marshall Allen, Sun Ra Arkestra

 

Danny Thompson, Sun Ra Arkestra

Francisco Mora Catlett, Afro Horn

David Murray

FYI, David Murray, Berkeley native,  now living in Paris, France,  invites the Black Arts Movement Poets Choir and Arkestra to a European tour ASAP! Thank you, David!

The Black Arts Movement Poets Choir and Arkestra

The Black Arts Movement Poets Choir and Arkestra 

University of California, Merced

BAM 50th Celebration, 2014

 

Marvin X, David Murray, Earle Davis

Marvin X reading DOPE by Amiri Baraka (RIP)

Black Arts Movement Poets Choir and Arkestra

Malcolm X Jazz/Arts Festival

Oakland, CA.

2014

Featured artists of the Bay Area 

BAM Poets Choir and Arkestra

Tureada Mikell, Michelle LaChaux, Dr. Ayodele Nzinga, Tarika Lewis

Tacuma King

Kujichagulia

Paradise Jah Love

f

Choreographer Linda Johnson, Val Serrant, Raynetta Rayzetta

Destiny Muhammad 

Earle Davis

Zena Allen 

 

Aries Jordan

Marvin X

TOWARD THE BLACK ARTS MOVEMENT 27 CITY TOUR

l

 

 

Sun Ra

Marshall Allen, 91 years old, now leader of the Sun Ra Arkestra (He said, "Marvin I'm not 91, I'm 19." Marvin X says, "And he plays like he's 19!" Danny Thompson and Marvin X at University of Chicago, Sun Ra Conference, 2015. They performed and discussed the teachings of BAM Master Sun Ra and their relationship with him as fellow artists. All three are dedicated to the teachings of Sun Ra. FYI, all of us BAM artists were/are students of Sun Ra, students and/or associates of Sun Ra, the POPE of BAM, AB the High Priest. David Murray and Francisco Mora Catlett performed and were infected with the Ra doctrine. RA RA RA!

 
The Gemini twins: Marvin X and Sun Ra. These "Latter Day Egyptian Revisionists" (Sun Ra term) worked together coast to coast. Marvin X worked with the Arkestra in New York, Philly and the Bay Area. Both men taught in the Black Studies Department at University of California, Berkeley, 1971-72. The above pic is outside Marvin's Black Educational Theatre, San Francisco, 1972. Sun Ra arranged the music for Marvin's play Take Care of Business, aka Flowers for the Trashman. They produced a five hour concert (without intermission) at San Francisco's Harding Theatre on Divisadero. The production had a cast of fifty, including Marvin's actors, Sun Ra's Arkestra and the dancers of choreographers Ellendar Barnes and Raymond Sawyer, living legends of Bay Area BAM dance. See SF Sun Reporter archives for review.

Juan Felipe Herrera, currently, US Poet Laureate, performed with the Black Arts Movement Poets Choir and Arkestra at the University of California, Merced, 50th Anniversary Conference, produced by Kim McMillon and Marvin X.

h

Poet Ginny Lim, member of The Black Arts Movement Poets Choir and Arkestra 

Left to Right: Zena Allen, Kora player, poet Marvin X, Tarika Lewis, violinist

Linda Johnson, choreographer/dancer

Dr. Cornel West and Marvin X

Cornel supports and will participate in the

Black Arts Movement 27 City Tour

 

Celebrate Black Classical Music, aka Jazz, April 4, 2016, arts.gov

Dear Fam/Friends, Greetings! In case you cannot make it to the event in DC tom'r...

 

Watch live on arts.gov starting at 8pm ET. (which should be 5pm PT)

 

National Endowment for the Arts

Please join us at The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, DC to celebrate our new class of NEA Jazz Masters (l-r) Archie Shepp, Gary Burton, Pharoah Sanders, and Wendy Oxenhorn at the April 4 NEA Jazz Masters Tribute Concert with host and musical guest Jason Moran!

Can't make it in person? Watch live on arts.gov starting at 8pm ET.

The concert will include performances by NEA Jazz Masters Chick Corea, Randy Weston, and Jimmy Heath, as well as jazz stars Rudresh Mahanthappa, Linda Oh, David Murray, and many more.

Marvin X reads "Dope" by Amiri Baraka

Straight Outta Oakland: the Black Arts Movement 27 City Tour

Straight Outta Oakland

The Black Arts Movement 27 City Tour

Now that the Oakland City Council has approved the Black Arts Movement Business District, the time has come for the Black Arts Movement Poets Choir and Arkestra to hit the road and complete the 27 City Tour envisioned by ancestor Amiri Baraka.  AB told BAM artists to tour the 27 cities with large populations of North American Africans and spread radical cultural consciousness. He said we should at least establish a fifty seat theatre in each city based on the BAM concept of the artistic freedom fighter. Long live the spirit of AB!

 

The Black Arts Movement was/is the most radical artistic and literary movement in American history, sister of the Black Power Movement. Our mission is to spread radical cultural consciousness throughout the land. We thank the citizens of Oakland for establishing the first Black Arts Movement Business District in America.


 
 BAM co-founder Marvin X and Lynette McElhaney, President of the
 Oakland City Council

We especially thank Oakland City Council President, Lynette McElhaney, for pushing through legislation establishing the Black Arts Movement Business District. Also, thanks to Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf and Laney College President Elnora T. Webb for celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the Black Arts Movement at Laney College.




We would like the BAM 27 City Tour to end in Cuba with a grand concert featuring the BAM Poets Choir and Arkestra, Francisco Mora's Afro Horn, Sun Ra Arkestra and David Murray. We need sponsors, promoters, booking agents to make this happen. If you or your city has a venue for the 27 City US tour, please contact Marvin X: 510-200-4164.

Sincerely,

Marvin X,
Producer
BAM 27 City Tour
jmarvinx@yahoo.com

Icons of the Black Arts Movement
invited to join the 
BAM 27 City Tour

Askia Toure

Sonia Sanchez

Marvin X and Danny Glover

 

Nikki Giovanni

l

The Last Poets 

Felipe Luciano, Last Poets

Haki Madhubuti

Mrs. Amina Baraka

Marshall Allen, Sun Ra Arkestra

 

Danny Thompson, Sun Ra Arkestra

Francisco Mora Catlett, Afro Horn

David Murray

The Black Arts Movement Poets Choir and Arkestra

The Black Arts Movement Poets Choir and Arkestra 

University of California, Merced

BAM 50th Celebration, 2014

 

Black Arts Movement Poets Choir and Arkestra

Malcolm X Jazz/Arts Festival

Oakland, CA.

2014

Featured artists of the Bay Area 

BAM Poets Choir and Arkestra

Tureada Mikell, Michelle LaChaux, Dr. Ayodele Nzinga, Tarika Lewis

Tacuma King

Kujichagulia

Paradise Jah Love

f

Choreographer Linda Johnson, Val Serrant, Raynetta Rayzetta

Destiny Muhammad 

Earle Davis

Zena Allen 

 

Aries Jordan

Marvin X

TOWARD THE BLACK ARTS MOVEMENT 27 CITY TOUR

l

 

Dr. Cornel West and Marvin X

Cornel supports and will participate in the

Black Arts Movement 27 City Tour

Marvin X message to Donald Trump, Man to Man, "Shut the fuck up about women!"

Even before and certainly after a man deposits his seed in the womb of a woman, he has no rights over the control of her womb and the fruit thereof. Male politicians need to stay out of all issues relating to the body of women. Yes, stick to men's business! You'll be doing great if you can handle men's issues, which is doubtful--alas, you may need the help of women on these issues.

 "Men don't know their asses from a hole in the ground. They must ask their woman, Baby, where's my asshole!" (from the monologue, One Day in the Life, a docudrama by Marvin X)

"Look, when I jump my pussy jumps, therefore my pussy belongs to me!" --Rashidah Mwongozi Sabreen in The Mythology of Pussy and Dick by Marvin X.



Donald, I have my own agenda but if I can help a human being, I will do so, so this is my message to you: Make no more statements about women, focus on American issues, international issues and men issues. Leave all statements regarding women to experts on your dream team. You claim you are a winner but you are acting like a loser and you will lose if you alienate women. I know you love women and I love women but your mouth can defy your ass so please shut up on women issues. Men love you because you speak like a man with his nuts out the sand, so don't alienate the women who are with you 100%, such as your wife, children and grandchildren. Again, I am not with you but I am not against you. --Marvin X

Maestro Marvin X, accompanied by the Black Arts Movement Poets Choir and Arkestra, featuring David Murray and Earle Davis, all three associated with the Sun Ra Arkestra. This performance was at the Malcolm X Jazz/Art Festival, Oakland, 2014. Marvin X is reading Amiri Baraka's poem DOPE. photo Adam Turner


Dear Donald,

I write to you as the father of three daughters, six sisters, a mother, three mothers of my children and several women who impacted my life on the most deepest level and I am forever grateful to all the females in my life.

Most importantly, people who observe me in my private life, say I am most humble when in conversation with my daughters. Indeed, my daughters have taught me humility as per relations with the feminine gender. One reason is because as the father of two sons, one transitioned and one totally alienated, I had to fall back on my daughters for spiritual and emotional support. But much to my surprise, my daughters sent me into shock when I saw their elegance in representing aspects of my personality. It was then that I had to deconstruct my addiction to the patriarchal mythology. I saw my daughters represented every dream I had for my sons. This rocked my patriarchal world to the deepest level, and yet I was  proud of my daughters for representing me and thus continuing the tradition every parent desires of his children, especially when the claim no connection with the family tradition. In truth, the DNA is so strong we continue the family tradition no matter what, yes, often in total ignorance we are carrying on every dream of the ancestors.

I note that you have two sons who are involved in your world and this is great. I don't know if you have daughters, but if you do, I'm sure you are not keeping them below the glass curtain. As parents, we want the best for our sons and daughters and we never know which of them will assume the authority of our desires because DNA is like that.

We can see in our deepest dreams our children take up the baton and carry on even though we have never had a conversation on the matter and they assume what they are doing is on their dime rather than ours.

Most often this is amazing to us when we see they are indeed in the tradition but don't realize it.
I desire only the best for my daughters. I do not want the glass ceiling to stop them from their life goals and, I must admit, they continue to excel, except one daughter  who is yet excelling but has totally given up on America and its white supremacy mythology. "Dad, Ghana may not have electricity 24/7 but Ghana doesn't have white supremacy 24/7. When I go to a four star hotel, nobody follows me around in Accra. When I go to an expensive store in Accra, nobody follows me around. And I have no desire to raise my daughter in a white supremacy toxic environment. I urge you to join me in Ghana.

Donald,
I am not for you or against you--do your thing. But man to man, I suggest you say nothing else about women issues. As I watch you perform on the political stage, I wonder how many times can you shoot yourself in the foot. As I am known as a foot shooter myself, I suggest you back yo ass up a little for your sake and the American people you want to save from perdition.


I am a revolutionary Black nationalist so I have no problem with you as a white nationalist. Do your thang. As per your building a wall at the border, America has the right to seal her borders. Mexicans have many issues as you have pointed out. I love Mexico and Mexicans because this nation gave me refuge during my exile as a resister to the war in Vietnam in 1970. Not only did Mexico give me refuge, but I was there with brothers and sisters from throughout Latin America, e.g., Cuba, Dominican Republic, Venezuela, Columbia and elsewhere. We all are in gratitude for Mexico giving us refuge from US Imperialism. And yet this does not absolve Mexico for the slaughter of students at the University a few months before I arrived in 1970. This does not absolve Mexico for the disappearance of parents who came to the University looking for their children.

But what about US students who were slaughtered at Kent State and the Orangeburg massacure in South Carolina. Or the brutal, violent and longest student strike in American academic history at San Francisco State University to establish Black Studies and Ethnic Studies.

Marvin X Exiled in Mexico, Black Arts Movement Poets Choir and Arkestra in Cuba

 Brother Dr. Cornel West and Black Arts Movement co-founder Marvin X, poet, playwright, essayist organizer, planner: Oakland Black Arts Movement Business District. Dr. West is down with Marvin X to make the Black Arts Movement District a reality, not only in Oakland but coast to coast.


I am in my joy
do not press me with negativity
release me in the name of love
please understand me
I am in love with love
murder is not my heart
love is the song I sing
let love flow in the creek
do not awake me with grief of the day
morning sun loving me
my lover is with me
sweet country girl
valley of my love
cotton grapes love
with me as we struggle
we did not know freedom of life was this
Mexico City Belize
black and beautiful free
arms flying wide in the joy of life beyond America esclavo
no esclavo in Mexico
Negro yo soy gringo tambien
Por favor, yo no soy Gringo
Yo soy Negro
yo soy rico
no esclavo
Por favor, yo soy Negro
no es rico yo soy escalvo
Negro es esclavo es vedad
por que Negro no es rico
Negro es gringo 

I am in the river beyond the day
the fishermen come with the daily catch
ah, the catch is good for lunch
ah, for dinner we eat fresh fish
ah, we go into the jungle into the night
what is that bird we heard in the night
we heard the bird
we walked into jungle night
we heard the sound of love birds
we walked
we talked of love
at the clearing we rested
drank water from the river
fresh water
on the other side of island was Cat fish
we eat not cat fish
they garbage men 
eat them not
ah, my lover comes to me in the river
we bathe in the river
we dry on the beach
sand flies attack us
love her blood
do mess with me
net don't matter
sand flies come through net
love her blood
sweet black blood
leave my lover alone
ah, how did we get here
so black so free
young and free
never again this ritual
never again a child born
freedom child
special child
Nefertiti
beautiful one has come
Nefer
rules dirty
south
rule Nefer
Big H rule
oh, who u ho
be qeeen Nefer
who don't know
Rule Nefer
man/woman no matter
rule. 

let me suck lips kiss all of you
we free never again free
never again love
make love
in the river
we are one
in the river
she is the best of me and I am her
in the best of life
in the jungle
no money
pregnant she is Nefertiti
we are free
free
in the jungle
free
pregnant
baby love in flight
love
flight
love
I am yours my dear
I am yours my teacher
I am yours my student.
Take me Chapultepec Park
love me on Sundays as Mexico loves in the park
love me hug me embrace me kiss me in the park
family love lovers love love to love to be love beyond love
I am love
Cerca de Metro
we live and love
Cerca de Metro
Cerca Paseo de la Reforma
Cerca Chapultepec Park
Oh Mexico
teach me love
teach me your kiss
teach me to embrace
teach me Mexico
I am yours
--Marvin X
4/1/16

 

Mi hermano, US Poet Laureate Juan Herrera

Marvin X proposes a concert in Cuba of the 

Black Arts Movement Poets Choir and Arkestra

ASAP 201

DON'T MAKE MY SON LOOK LIKE THIS

 MAYOR RAS BARAKA, NEWARK, NEW JERSEY


DON'T MAKE MY CHILD LOOK LIKE THIS
BUT IF HE MUST
LOOK LIKE THIS
CHOSEN SON OF NEWARK
TRAINED FOR THE MISSION
NO FEAR MISSION
FATHER NO FEAR
MOTHER NO FEAR
BROTHERS NO FEAR
SISTER SHANI NO FEAR
STAND TALL RAS
WE SAW YOU FROM CHILDHOOD
WE SAW YOU RUN WITHOUT FATHER
ARROGANT
BUT CAME TO YOUR SENSES
BROTHER AMIRI JR. PLOTTED
QUIET SOUL AB JR.
STRATEGIST 
SOUL DEEP DOWN IN PEOPLE
SING SHANI TO BROTEHRS
SING
LOVE SONGS TO MARVIN X
SING SHANI
HE ONLY MAN I LIKE
MARVIN X
COOK ME BREAKFAST MARVIN
NEVER SAW  MAN COOK BEFORE
FATHER NO COOK
BROTHERS NO COOK
COOK
MARVIN
COOK
YES
I WILL GO WITH YOU TO WEST COAST
LOVE YOU MARVIN
LOVE MY GIRLS TOO
LOVE MA GIRLS
AIN'T NO THANG
YOU SAID I'M PRINCESS
YES PRINCESS BARAKA
LOVE YOU MARVIN X
LOVE IS LOVE IS LOVE
AIN'T NO THING
DIE FOR MA GIRL
WHY DAT NIGGUH WANNA KILL MA SISTA
WHY
CAN'T HAVE THE PUSSY KILL
WANT THE PUSSY KILL
NO RESPECT FOR THE PUSSY KILL
SICK MALE BULLISH SICK KILL
END THIS SHIT END
LOVE IS LOVE
SOME LOVE AIN'T LOVE
SOME LOVE IS HATE
DON'T LOVE ME DON'T  LOVE SELF
WHAT LIE  MAKE YOU KILL
KILL ME LOVE ME BUT YOU SICK
LET ME KNOW LOVE
I'M TRYIN TO KNOW LOVE
LET ME KNOW LOVE IN MY LIFE PLEASE
SHOW ME YOUR LOVE IF YOU LOVE
GO LEARN TO LOVE SOMEWHERE DUDE
NOT IN MY HOUSE
DON'T KILL MY SISTER
DON'T KILL ME
DON'T KILL MY LOVER
SOMEBODY NEED TO LOVE ME
LET ME LOVE SOMEBODY DUDE
YOU DON'T LOVE ME
HATE ME
ABUSE ME
FAKE LOVE
ALLAH LOVE
KILLER LOVE
FIVE PER CENT LOVE
JESUS LOVE
KILLER LOVE
CONTROL LOVE
BEAT ASS LOVE
NO LOVE
SEE ME LATER LOVE
DOWN THE RIVER LOVE
CREEK RISING LOVE
RIVER RISING LOVE
SING LOVE TO RIVER
SING TO CREEK LOVE RISING LOVE.
-MARVIN X
4/1/16

Black Bird Press News & Review: Marvin X Classic--How to Recover from the Addiction to White Supremacy

Black Bird Press News & Review: Marvin X Classic--How to Recover from the Addiction to White Supremacy